Orange Shirt Day is a day designed to honor those residential school survivors, by wearing an orange shirt on September 30th.  

The day was inspired by ‘Phyllis’s story’, about a young girl who had her new bright orange shirt taken from her on her first day at a residential school. 

Grade 11 student from Delburne Centralized School Amy Peters, was the winner of this year’s provincial contest looking for the design of the provincial orange shirt. 

Peters says things like Orange Shirt Day is important to make sure current and future Canadians are well aware of all aspects of our history.   

“It’s very important, especially in small towns. Minorities are often not present, or there are very little members representing them. It’s important that future generations remember the history of what went on with the settlers and the first nations’ people, and eventually residential schools, and continue to keep it alive and have reconciliation between the first nations and ourselves."

She says her love of art, and her respect for First Nations culture, and a helpful teacher is what got her involved in the contest.

“I was taking a distance learning course in art, and my teacher actually sent me a link to the contest, and thought it would be a great idea to expand my art, and have another way to use my creativity. And I also have a deep respect for the first nation’s culture, and I’m very interested in learning about residential schools and what occurred at them.”

Amy also is an avid competitive archer, who is attempting to qualify for the Canada Winter Games when they come to Red Deer in 2019.

She has already won a silver medal at the 2014 Alberta Winter Games in Banff, and a bronze medal in Medicine Hat in 2016.

To purchase a shirt, you can go to the Society for Safe and Caring Schools and Communities website, where all funds raised from the sale of the shirts will go. 

The Society for Safe and Caring Schools and Communities is an organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for all Alberta children.

(Peters’ winning design. The t-shirts will be in black and white)